Ha ha!! That bottom photo is so funny to me. I was terrified that day. Look at that shorepound. That was the day of the Mat Meet at Cottons, which was firing hard. I still didn't quite know what to do on a mat that day. And, as you can see, I got punished something fierce. If there had been subsequent shots of that few minutes, you would see the mat being ripped from my hands and me staggering out of the water with only one fin on!! Hysterical!!

Still, that was the day when I saw how a mat was supposed to be ridden. The only way to see it done was to suck it up—and I don't deny that I was scared—and get in the water to watch. And I lived!